communicator & network faq;; shorter than a hardware manual

[capemods]

communicators & the network

✖ What’s the hero network, and who can access it?
The network is a communications system provided by the Porter and Stark Industries (the first one) in order to facilitate heroic endeavors. It can be accessed by anyone who was ImPorted, via the provided communicators. Each communicator has a unique serial number, and these -- as well as a character's given name -- are visible alongside every post and comment.

✖ What do the communicators look like?
The communicators are compact phones, clamshell form factor, with external and internal touch-screen, internal/external camera, and internal physical-button QWERTY. They're somewhere crossed between a Samsung Doubletime and the Nokia Communicator E90.

They're capable of texting, phone calls, internet browsing, and default access to the Hero Forums // ImPort Network. Each communicator is assigned a unique serial number and a character's given name, which is how characters see each other's posts! They also come with a wristband and lanyard for those characters that don't like keeping them in their pockets.

Characters with vision, hearing, or other applicable impairments/limitations will receive specialized devices suited to their needs.

✖ What kind of posts can characters make?
The Network allows for posts and comments to be made in text, audio or video format. Text comments are like forum posts, and voice or video posts are embedded with media files. However, this is flexible, and threads can also function like text messages, phone calls, or video conferences! Remember, the default is text. If a post is unspecified, that means it’s text only.

✖ Can characters ICly see icons / journal names?
Nope! The only identification a post/comment gets is the serial number and the character's given name. Locally, characters can add those numbers/numbers to their address book and attach nicknames if they so wish, but that identifier would only apply to the communicator that sets them.

✖ What's this about serial numbers?
Each communicator is ID'd by a unique 7-digit serial/phone number. This number is the primary identifier to posts to the Network -- a communicator's number cannot be changed or duplicated. This number is the journal account number found on any given character account's profile -- it's in parenthesis on the "Created on YYYY-MM-DD" line.

✖ Wait, what about given names? That wasn't there before!
Correct! Due to the move to dreamwidth sabotage made to the Network, security has needed to be tightened with regards to who exactly is getting access. Therefore, whatever name a character gave in response to Lachesis' "state your name and alias" query on arrival is the name tied to their communicator. This is the name displayed in the first half of the labeling tag on a character's entry. For example, if the tag is Bruce Wayne | Batman, then the comments will register as being from Bruce Wayne by default.

✖ What if my character doesn't have a name?
Lachesis will tell them "Try again, Hero" until they either give her a name or make something up -- though something obviously made up or incorrect might give the character an electric shock. As they will not receive a communicator unless they give her something, it's best to just do what the computer tells them.

✖ My character has a secret identity / alter ego. How do they use the Network without being unmasked?
In cases such as this, a character may be able to pilfer a second communicator for specific usage as the alter ego. (E.G., one device for Clark Kent, one for Superman.) If you feel your character needs a second communicator, you must get this approved by hitting the Plotting Post.

✖ What if I want to make an anonymous post?
The only way for a post to be "anonymous" is if the communicator is not registered to a specific name -- it will still carry a unique serial number, as that is a physical aspect of the device, but it will have no prior records or connection to any given character. Again, if you feel your character needs a communicator for this purpose, you must speak with a moderator.

A character may only possess up to two communication devices -- so they can either have an "alter ego" comm or an "anonymous" comm, but not both.

✖ What happens to my character's communicator(s) if I drop?
The device will remain "active," or usable, for up to one week after a character is ExPorted. After that point the communicator will deactivate, its saved data will be swallowed up by the hidden archives Network, and the device itself will become just a very expensive paperweight. Should that exact character, memories and all, return to the City after that point, the new communicator they receive upon arrival will be loaded with their previous saved data. (If it's a different person playing that character, or it's a character reset, the communicator will be as blank as any other. Lachesis knows.)

✖ What if I want to make a post that doesn't use the communicator / hero network system?
The great majority of posts made to capeandcowl are of the network-based variety, though there are a couple exceptions. One is !newsfeed posts, which are more of a glean to network television than a character entry, and are used primarily for larger-scale plot purposes. Psychic characters, or ones that can communicate through telepathy, will sometimes use this ability to contact characters using the main community without use of the setting-provided communicators. We do not require a player to seek moderator approval for these types of posts. However, if this exception is clearly abused specifically to avoid the filter limitation, it may be restricted.

filters & privacy

✖ Can I make private posts?
That depends on what you mean by private. There is no function on the network that allows a user to make posts viewable only to themselves – it’s a social tool, not a diary! However, the network functions very similarly to Livejournal/Dreamwidth itself, in that posts and comments can be filtered to certain other users.

✖ What are the rules on filters?
Excluding its original poster (your character), a filtered post is accessible to between one and eight characters, or hidden from between one and eight characters. All characters on the filter, regardless of the type, must be specifically indicated in the filter. Attempting to lock "from known bad guys" or "to character's friends (they know who they are)" isn't going to work.

✖ What if my cast is larger than that?
Exceptions to the filter rule are available upon request from the mods! In order to qualify, the group of characters must speak frequently, have a legitimate need for privacy, and include at least one hacker or technopath.

✖ My character is in jail. Do they get to keep their communicator?
Yes. For complicated legal reasons, ImPort characters in holding/prison, Superjail, or NOHoPE retain access to their communicators. To compensate for this, all filtering functions are completely disabled for the duration of the character's stay. They can neither filter posts nor see posts that are filtered; attempting to filter a post to a character with a restricted communicator breaks the filter entirely, leaving its content completely and irrevocably public.

✖ What about those "secure posts" (that have been used maybe two times in 2008 and never again)?
Can no longer be made.